Final Table Player's lead Position

What position on the leader board do you like to be in when they are 6 or less players left on a final when chips tacks are reasonably close in MTT & why?
I have won more MTT's being in like 2nd or 3rd position than in 1st position with 6 or less players to go.I feel like sometimes when I get chip lead I play either too aggressive and lose my chips to finish in a lower place or I'll go card dead and try to bully a hand with my big stack and lose more chips.Does anyone else feel that they win more not being chip leader with 6 or less players to go?

I believe at the final table, whoever is lucky enough wins. The blinds are high enough that almost all the play are shootout. Mostly gambles to have a commanding lead and eventually wins the first place. The payout in poker is hyperbolic and not linear in nature. So in a 3 person left final table, either you want first place or third place and not second, so being aggressive is fine just to have a big chip lead.

would always prefer to go first at all times, but as you say usually who goes first does not stop first, then it is best to come climbing positions below to finish first

When i have won i have not been the chip leader when reaching the final table. There is not much poker being played at this stage because the blinds are so high in relation to the stacks. So it does become a bit of a lottery with most players either folding on shoving.

I was @ to the FT yesterday and was nowhere near the chip leader.

I eventually got to HU's and finally won my 1st HU

I shoved a few times but did not get any callers. A stole a few blinds here and there and even managed to steal the blinds holding 72o sitting on the CO. I eventually went HUs when I finally win from a shove, the guy I knocked out kept calling people idiots when he won, so you can imagine how delighted I was when I KO'd him

hffjd2000 said:

I believe at the final table, whoever is lucky enough wins. The blinds are high enough that almost all the play are shootout. Mostly gambles to have a commanding lead and eventually wins the first place. The payout in poker is hyperbolic and not linear in nature. So in a 3 person left final table, either you want first place or third place and not second, so being aggressive is fine just to have a big chip lead.

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While luck is good, I'd have to disagree with you here. Think it is obv anyone should, and would, wish to have the chiplead 6 handed at an FT. The player with the most chips can withstand losing a few hands or chips (especially when playing for 1st place). Where as the short stack, HAS to win his hands to just stay in the game, let alone double up enough times or win enough pots to go on to win the tourney outright.

The situation above is 6 or less players at a final table. Steveiam was correct in saying the play here is either fold or shove and its a lottery. The blinds are already very high in comparison to stacks. The player with the most chips if beaten will be paralyzed because of much chunk of chips removed-the pot is very high. Theres no room for maneuvering here even if youre the chip leader.

With 6 players left in an MTT I prefer to have the biggest stack!
My second choice is being 2nd in chips.
My third choice is having the 3rd largest stack.
My fourth favourite sized stack is sitting with enough chips to have me sitting in 4th of 6 players remaining.
My fifth favourite sized stack on a final table of 6 players remaining is to be sitting with the 2nd smallest stack. Seems odd but I prefer it over having the shortest/smallest stack on the table. I figure it gives me a bit more leverage, especially if the shortest stack is reallyyyyy short & players are considering things like 'ICM'.
My sixth favourite is to be sitting on the shortest stack on the table.

hffjd2000 said:

The situation above is 6 or less players at a final table. Steveiam was correct in saying the play here is either fold or shove and its a lottery. The blinds are already very high in comparison to stacks. The player with the most chips if beaten will be paralyzed because of much chunk of chips removed-the pot is very high. Theres no room for maneuvering here even if youre the chip leader.

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How can we assume that effective stacks will put us in shove/fold mode? I don't recall OP mentioning anything about it being some Turbo/fast-structured MTT where stacks are short with 6 players remaining
Maybe the average stack is 50bb's deep? Maybe the chipleader has 120bb's.. couple others have ~75bb's.. another with 40bb's another with 25bb & the shortstack on 14bb's. Who knows?

In final table, if u are chip leader u can steal blinds from D button. And wait cards, Don't play agressive if u never be agressive. It's the same play like all tourney

erlanditas said:

In final table, if u are chip leader u can steal blinds from D button. And wait cards, Don't play agressive if u never be agressive. It's the same play like all tourney

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In final table if im a cheap leader i play bit passive , and calling or reraise if i hit pair
Maybe ill play more agressive after i build up some more experience. Many things will comes with experience i think.

The more chips, the better

Poker Orifice said:

With 6 players left in an MTT I prefer to have the biggest stack!
My second choice is being 2nd in chips.
My third choice is having the 3rd largest stack.
My fourth favourite sized stack is sitting with enough chips to have me sitting in 4th of 6 players remaining.
My fifth favourite sized stack on a final table of 6 players remaining is to be sitting with the 2nd smallest stack. Seems odd but I prefer it over having the shortest/smallest stack on the table. I figure it gives me a bit more leverage, especially if the shortest stack is reallyyyyy short & players are considering things like 'ICM'.
My sixth favourite is to be sitting on the shortest stack on the table.

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^This....never underestimate the "bully factor" when the blinds are huge and it's shove/fold time!

Poker Orifice said:

With 6 players left in an MTT I prefer to have the biggest stack!
My second choice is being 2nd in chips.
My third choice is having the 3rd largest stack.
My fourth favourite sized stack is sitting with enough chips to have me sitting in 4th of 6 players remaining.
My fifth favourite sized stack on a final table of 6 players remaining is to be sitting with the 2nd smallest stack. Seems odd but I prefer it over having the shortest/smallest stack on the table. I figure it gives me a bit more leverage, especially if the shortest stack is reallyyyyy short & players are considering things like 'ICM'.
My sixth favourite is to be sitting on the shortest stack on the table.

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Really? Having more chips is better than having fewer? What are you thinking?

obviously, we would all "prefer" to have the most chips when given a choice.

that said...the actual results of my final tables....I've done the best when I'm in the middle of the pack for most the final table. I'm pretty darned good at flying under the radar and taking my average stack at 9 players and keeping it average until about 3 or 4 players....then at that point when the final table is short handed with high blinds, so much depends having cards, getting lucky, holding up etc.

edit to add: also because I mostly play live tourneys that start in the evening, there is extra value to "climbing the ladder" with an average stack. Usually, by the time we reach 3 or 4 players it is like 3:00 in the morning, blinds are huge and we often chop the prizepool. You need roughly an average stack to be considered for an even chop, otherwise the big stacks will want to do an ICM chop (which actually favors the bigstacks and is unfair to the short stacks). Because of this I think it is too risky to "play for first" since chopping evenly 3 or 4 ways usually is roughly 2nd place money.

If you have too many chips, you can always use my strategy, and just wait for aces, or until you have a medium stack again

Poker Orifice said:

With 6 players left in an MTT I prefer to have the biggest stack!
My second choice is being 2nd in chips.
My third choice is having the 3rd largest stack.
My fourth favourite sized stack is sitting with enough chips to have me sitting in 4th of 6 players remaining.
My fifth favourite sized stack on a final table of 6 players remaining is to be sitting with the 2nd smallest stack. Seems odd but I prefer it over having the shortest/smallest stack on the table. I figure it gives me a bit more leverage, especially if the shortest stack is reallyyyyy short & players are considering things like 'ICM'.
My sixth favourite is to be sitting on the shortest stack on the table.

Click to expand...

Listen to this guy, he is the voice of experience!